The Priest of Eibon

“My princess,” the man spoke, “do you fear this night?” Exotica’s eyes answered him plainly enough. “Good!” he snapped at her. “Only fear will save your life now, for what has struck at the heart of your father’s kingdom is no simple demon or servant of Hell. It is a Shoggoth!”

The wizards that stood around her reacted with shock at the name, but Exotica had never heard the word before. The priest of Eibon held forth an orb which glowed with dark fire and then quickly returned it to the folds of his robe. “The warning of the orb cannot be denied,” he continued. “The Shoggoth have returned. The End Time has come. And only the most desperate of paths will save us from eternal damnation!”

“And why do you tell me this, priest?” Exotica demanded. “Do you wish to see me stricken with even greater fear and hopelessness? The pain and misery that even now twists my soul, is that not enough for you?”

“Oh princess, I do not wish to see you in distress at all,” the priest answered. “And I too share in your misery, for I do not wish to be enslaved by the Shoggoth anymore than you do. What do you think - that I and my kind worship such vile creatures? Oh no, that is a most grievous lie. But we do have knowledge of their kind, and that knowledge may yet lead to victory over them. But only if you are willing. Only if you let go of any foolish hope that there is any other way to defeat them and set the world off the path of destruction.”

“Then you know of a way to strike back at the thing inside my father’s castle?” Exotica asked.

“Oh yes,” the priest answered. “For the Book of Eibon foretold of this danger and revealed a way to survive it. But only you may brave that path. The Path of the Cenobite!”

1. Exotica submits herself to the priest and takes on the Path of the Cenobite.
2. Exotica feels the pull of her inner magic, and a warning against taking up the Path of the Cenobite. It is to the Light that she must go, not toward the Dark.

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